Global Research

Anti Imperialist Conference 2007 Declaration

DECLARATION

Delegates from USA, Russia, Lebanon, Palestine, Turkey, Bahrain, Canada, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Nepal and India adopted the following document as the Declaration of the International Anti-imperialist Conference held at Calcutta on November 27-29, 2007.

      
The world is passing through a very critical phase in human history. In the name of globalization the capitalist class has brought down most murderous attacks, vicious persecution, and ruthless exploitation on the working masses. The ferocity of this attack can be gauged by the ever deteriorating living conditions of the working people. Retrenchment and lay-off are increasing by leaps and bounds. Steep decline in real wages and pauperization of the peasantry, particularly in the so-called third world countries have become the order of the day. On the other hand, “fighting terrorism” and championing “democracy” are the new ploys in the hands of the imperialists to launch barbaric military aggression on countries, to forcibly occupy them and to engineer regime changes. This is the “new world order” that the imperialists led by USA want to impose.

 To understand the alignment of forces of progress and of reaction and to correctly chart out our course in this critical juncture, let us go back into history a little bit. The Second World War ended with the victory over the fascist powers and the post-war period was marked by a surge of people’s struggle for emancipation. Socialist states were established in the countries of Eastern Europe, in China, Korea, Vietnam, Cuba. Victorious anti-imperialist struggles liberated the colonies one after another. Soviet Union emerged as a leading light in this struggle for emancipation. Socialism was freed from the bounds of one country and was transformed to a world system, as an alternative to the capitalist system. Losing a large part of the world market, and being politically cornered, capitalism was weakened and intense market crisis gripped the capitalist world. But in the post-Stalin period revisionism established a firm grip on the leadership of the Soviet Communist Party, and the downward slide began, ultimately leading to dismantling of socialism and establishment of capitalism in Soviet Russia. China also, after the demise of Comrade Mao Ze-Dong, turned back from the socialist path and ultimately capitalism was restored there. Restoration of capitalism in Russia and China, and disappearance of the socialist camp gave a new lease of life to imperialism by expanding their areas of exploitation.

      The imperialists gleefully proclaimed that the world has become unipolar and that with the disappearance of the “evil empire” of Soviet Russia the main danger for war and threat to world peace has disappeared from the scene. They claimed that the world market is now integrated to a single entity, in which all the countries will have opportunities for growth and prosperity. The slogans of privatization, globalization and liberalization were aggressively paraded and it was touted that these measures would open the doors to unfettered progress of the whole humanity. But even as these golden dreams were being peddled to a confused populace, crisis in the capitalist-imperialist economy further intensified. This is a result of the inherent contradiction in the capitalist system. Spectacular technological advances increased the productive capacity many times over, but the purchasing power of the people was being continuously squeezed. Competition between the imperialist powers for shares in the shrinking world market is becoming more and more fierce. At first USA was the unquestioned leader in the imperialist camp because of its economic and military strength. But the economic domination of USA is now being challenged; European Union and Japan have emerged as contenders. Capitalist Russia after getting over the initial chaos following the overthrow of the socialist system is trying to expand its sphere of economic and political influence. To counter this, USA by extending the NATO eastwards is trying to militarily encircle Russia. China, after being converted to a capitalist state through counter-revolution, is also flexing its muscle to emerge as a global economic force and to assert its dominance in South Asia. To counter the Chinese domination USA is trying to form a bloc with India and other countries like Australia, Japan, Israel. Thus we see that the number of competitors is getting more while the market is being progressively squeezed. This is the crisis in imperialist economy – excess capital and shrinking of market.

      Globalization is a desperate attempt of capitalism- imperialism to come out of the crisis in the capitalist economic system. GATT and WTO came into being as crisis management measures to somehow patch up a regulated trade system and division of market according to strength of capital. But globalization has completely failed to meet the crisis that is rocking the capitalist world. Industrial growth in all the capitalist countries, including the advanced countries, has slowed down; there is severe recession, widespread unemployment, rise of poverty, and slashing of social welfare measures. With each passing day it is becoming increasingly clear that the real objective of globalization, privatization, liberalization is to squeeze the last drop of blood from the impoverished workers and to establish the all-round domination of the western imperialist powers over the underdeveloped world.

      In the post-Second-World-War period the newly independent bourgeois nationalist regimes, in order to hold onto their political independence and to protect their economy from western imperialist penetration, leaned on the Soviet Union and got the necessary support. These countries, without joining either the imperialist or the socialist camp, built up the platform of non-aligned movement, which was aimed at reaping benefits from both the camps through bargaining in order to consolidate their native capitalism. But with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp these countries became vulnerable to the transnationals’ penetration. India, long considered an ally of the poor developing countries in their fight against imperialist penetration, joined the western imperialist camp to fulfil its own imperialist ambition. The resistance of the third world countries got severely weakened.

      WTO is a tool in the hands of USA and other big imperialist powers to pressurize the weaker nations to open up their markets for unrestricted loot and plunder and to allow the imperialists to have free access to their resources. In the name of ‘reforms’, they are forcing the weaker countries to remove subsidies and lift all barriers against penetration of foreign goods and capital, but at the same time they themselves are preserving subsidies and resisting external penetration into their own market. The economy of the poor countries depends a lot on agriculture, but their agricultural products cannot compete with the heavily subsidized products from the advanced countries. Further, imperialism is exerting its control over the agriculture of these countries by making them dependent on imported seeds, genetically engineered products, fertilizers etc. Privatization-globalization-liberalization is used as an instrument of the imperialist strategy. Opening up of the market, privatization and structural reforms dictated by the World Bank and IMF are impoverishing the people and are leading to a stark polarization between the rich and the poor. Not only is the difference between the rich and the poor increasing within each country, but the gap between rich and poor nations is also widening.

      But as the exploitation is getting more, so also is the people’s resentment towards globalization increasing not only in the poorer countries, but also in the advanced capitalist countries. Within USA itself people’s opposition to globalization is growing. American capital instead of being invested in local industry is exported abroad to manufacture goods using the cheap labour power and resources of those countries. This is leading to closing down of local industry, resulting in widespread retrenchment and unemployment. People are starting to question whether free trade is such a good thing. Demands for review of all trade agreements, starting with NAFTA are being voiced.

      Lenin pointed out nearly hundred years ago that it is the crisis in capitalism that poses the greatest danger to world peace and is the basic cause that leads to wars. In today’s globalized world all the capitalist-imperialist countries are engaged in trade wars, with each one trying to obstruct penetration by the others into its own market, while demanding unrestricted right to enter into others’ markets. Bitter disputes are coming out into the open between the three major imperialist groupings, USA, European Union and Japan, each trying to expand their shares in the global market and thereby multiply their political influence. On the other hand the fissure between the developed countries and the resurgent capitalist countries are becoming wider. The latter are trying to group together to oppose the agenda of the G8 countries. In this scenario of deep division and bitter fight between them, all the imperialist countries have the compulsion to constantly strive to enlarge their own reserve markets. Another point to take note of is that in the recessive capitalist world market today the military establishments are the richest and chief consumers all over the world. For artificial stimulation of the sagging economy, the capitalist states of both the imperialist and developing countries are taking recourse to militarization of economy. Buying and selling of arms have become a major international trade. Hence, for release of stockpile of arms, engineering local and partial wars, fomenting army-based coups, propping up military dictatorships, have become a compulsive necessity of imperialism. Side by side, the sharpening contradiction among the imperialist powers is making real the danger of trade war hot up to military confrontation. Increasing militarization of economies of the imperialist powers is accentuating this contradiction and is leading to outbreaks of war.

      To meet its own economic crisis US imperialism finds it a compulsion to control as many economic, political and military-strategic levers as it can. The Bush administration openly proclaimed in its ‘National Security strategy of the United States of America’ that the US has the right to use military force anywhere in the world, at any time it chooses, against any country that it believes to be a threat to American interests. US imperialism refuses to respect as a matter of international law the sovereignty of any other country, and reserves the right to get rid of any regime, in any part of the world, that is at the moment, or may in future become, hostile to what US considers to be its vital interests. It will not hesitate to act alone if its attempt to enlist the support of the international community does not succeed. The US will not be restrained by the convention of international law. This assertion in words was matched with action in the savage military attack on Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq and in the continuous economic sanction and threat of military action against Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Cuba.

      West Asia has now become the main theatre of battle between American aggression and the people’s aspiration for emancipation. The 9/11 incident gave USA the pretext to launch its ‘War on Terror’ and unleash vicious military offensive in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. Afghanistan war was waged with an eye to open up and control the corridor to the oil reserves of Central Asia. With this end in view they established military bases in Kyrghizstan and Tajikistan. And war on Iraq had the design to establish control over the vast oil resources of Iraq. Oil is of strategic significance in shaping the international balance of power. Saudi Arabian oil is already under the control of USA and it wants to establish full control on the rich Iraqi oilfields so that it will have complete monopoly over the resources of oil in the Middle East. Oil would give it the power for world domination, the power to control the lifeline of economy of any country. The weapon of oil supply could be utilized to thwart the aspiration of any nation that challenges US supremacy. Dick Cheney once said, “Whoever controls the flow of Persian Gulf oil has a stranglehold not only on our economy but also on the other countries of the world as well.” Saddam Hussein had signed development and exploration contracts with China, France, India, Indonesia and Russia. This was against the US interest and by establishing political control over Iraq USA wanted to set these aside in favour of US and possibly British companies. Earlier America had a monopoly on the oil trade, with the U.S. dollar being the fiat currency, but Iraq broke ranks in 1999, started to trade oil in the EU’s euros, and profited. America wanted to take over Iraq so that it could block the entry of the EU and its euro into the international trade and make America’s position as the dominant economic power in the world unassailable.

      But there are other dimensions to the American design. If the United States can install a puppet regime in Iraq, that would serve as a platform from which it can accomplish a complete reordering of the political set up in West Asia and establish its hegemony. It would not only give the United States greater leverage to act against countries like Syria and Iran, but would give it the power to crush the growing anti-imperialist movement in the Arab world and help its close ally Israel to put down the freedom struggle of the Palestinian people. This is a part and parcel of its imperialist drive to maintain and expand its reserve market in all these countries for exploitation of their resources, cheap labour power and market by its finance capital, crushing by whatever means all opposition and resistance to its machinations. As we have already said the other compulsion of USA to wage this war is to revamp its sagging economy, and to artificially stimulate its ever-shrinking market by boosting up the war industry and effecting stock clearance of arms and ammunition through warfare. The US economy stands on quicksand; its industrial growth rate is declining towards nil; there is large-scale retrenchment and lockout, growing unemployment, rampant financial corruption. So it is an imperative necessity for the administration to divert people’s attention from domestic economic problems by fanning up war jingoism.

      A 2000 document, entitled “Rebuilding America’s Defenses”, written by the Republican think-tank, brings out the deep design of the American policy in West Asia. It says “while the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein”. Control of the Gulf and its oil resources, the document added, was necessary for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests. The document borrowed the conceptions put forward in a 1992 Pentagon strategy document. It envisioned the control of Persian Gulf oil as part of an “American grand strategy” that would “discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role”. Thus the war was planned and executed to further the designs of the US ruling class for global hegemony. It was aimed not just against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, but at Europe, China, Japan and any other power that could conceivably challenge US world domination.

      In the wake of September 9/11 the ruling class in USA and its subservient intelligentsia started a most heinous campaign to equate global terrorism with what the USA rulers call “Islamic movement” and stepped up this slanderous campaign to garner domestic support for its naked aggression against the Muslim countries of Afghanistan and Middle East. But we know from history that imperialist powers, specifically USA, has in many countries actively sponsored fundamentalist forces like the Taliban in order to terrorize the masses and crush the genuine, progressive, democratic and revolutionary forces that endanger the continued rule of imperialism and local reactionary forces and become a threat to imperialism. Jordonian Marxist activist Hisham Bustani said in an interview that in every country the USA’s targets of attack are those forces which resist US policies. In Latin America the leftist forces provide the bulwark of resistance and they are the targets of attack by USA. In the Middle East the resistance takes an Islamist form and so Islam becomes the US target. In this context we note that in the Middle East there is a symbiotic relation between USA and Zionist Israel. USA uses Israel as a frontier state to further its imperialist agenda and crush the liberation movements which have a strong anti-US stance. And the Israeli aggressors are using the ‘anti-terrorist’ line of USA to depict the Palestinian and Lebanese freedom fighters as terrorists and crush the Intifada and the Lebanese armed resistance to Israel’s aggression.

      Intrigue and deceit marked the birth of the Jewish State of Israel and its 60-year history is one of aggression and annexation. To implement their geo-political designs in the Middle East the Anglo-US imperialists wanted to have an outpost here, a region rich in strategic oil resources. They needed a regime to play the role of a gendarme for crushing the anti-imperialist national liberation struggles in the Arab countries, which would overthrow the imperialist control on oil resources. The imperialists knew that after worst persecution under Hitler and the killing of millions of Jewish people in the gas chambers, the Jews had the sympathy of the world people. So in order to implement their nefarious design against the Palestinian people, they cunningly exploited people’s sympathy for Jewish people and sought to confuse world opinion. Thus the State of Israel was founded in a region where the Jews were in the minority. In 1948 the Zionist leaders announced the formation of Israel and grabbed much more territory than that allotted to Israel under UN partition plan. They drove out through terror and massacres 700,000 Palestinian people who had lived there for centuries, and razed to the ground over 500 Palestinian villages. Israel occupied 78% of historic Palestine. Through successive wars in 1956, 1967 and 1973 Israeli rulers have aggressively and illegally annexed the remaining 22% of historic Palestine. They have brazenly defied the world opinion to vacate the occupied lands, and on the contrary are pursuing a policy of colonization of these lands. The barbaric aggressive policy of Israel has driven practically a whole people out of their homeland and forced millions to a life of untold misery in sordid refugee camps, depriving them of all political, economic, social and cultural rights. Israel has stubbornly refused their right to return to their homelands. In the occupied territories the Palestinians are living as second-class citizens, in abject poverty, deprived of education and proper medical care, subjected to wanton killing or injuries by the Israeli soldiers and security guards. Israel routinely detains Palestinians without charge or any prospect of judicial process. They are held for years without charge or trial and are subjected to inhuman torture. Israeli ill treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the common use of torture and brutality, the appalling, sub-human conditions under which they are held are flagrant violations of basic human rights, and contravene most international conventions, including those concerning prisoners of war.

      The Israeli brigandage is done with full support and encouragement of the USA and other imperialist powers. The purpose is to crush the Arab national liberation movements with an anti-imperialist content. Israel, moreover, plays a strategic role in the United States global arms industry. Not only does it buy and develop sophisticated military hardware for US military industries, Israel has also become the main subcontractor of American arms. Recently Israel signed multi-billion dollar contracts to train and equip the Chinese army and Indian armies with American weapons.

      The Zionists, with US patronage, are violating every international law and norm and have flouted all UN resolutions with impunity. Palestinian resistance struggle grew against the historic wrong and persecution of their entire people. The intense hatred of the Palestinian people against the state of Israel found expression in the successive Intifadas, mass uprisings, which was ringing the death knell for the State of Israel. Even within Israel opposition to the State’s annexation policy and the oppression of the Palestinians was growing. As both sympathy and admiration of the Palestinian struggle on the one hand and condemnation of the Israeli ruthlessness and oppression on the other were growing among the people all over the world, the imperialist powers conspired to deflect world opinion from the steadfast demand of the Palestinian people for an independent state, to discredit their militant mass struggle and to protect Israel from people’s upsurge. They forced upon the Palestinians the Oslo Accords to foil the Palestinian demand for statehood and the right to return to their homeland. But even the limited concessions granted in the Oslo Accords remain unfulfilled because of the Israeli intransigency. Since the time of the Accords, Israel has been increasing fortress-like settlements in the semi-autonomous areas under Palestine Authority. And Israel intends to lock in the Palestinians into their scattered cities and villages in the West Bank which are fragmented by Israeli settlements by building a complex of fences, concrete walls, trenches and barbed wire fences. Israel has gone on assassinating one Palestinian leader after another through missile attacks, as well as killing indiscriminately civilians, including women and children, and seeing to it that the areas under Palestine authority have no economic viability. After all this they call the Palestinian people who began to revolt against such criminal treatment — often fighting the modern Israeli army with nothing but stones — as terrorists, and are arresting, torturing and killing them.

      Israeli soldiers frequently infiltrated into neighbouring countries of Lebanon and Syria and Israeli army invaded them again and again. In 2006 determined armed resistance by Lebanese fighters drew the Israeli response of savage attack by air force, army and navy. Israel destroyed large parts of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including roads, bridges, Beirut’s International Airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, schools, hospitals and homes. Large tracts of Lebanon were turned into rubbles. But this wanton killing and destruction only strengthened the resolve of the fighters to resist aggression. 

 We cannot also turn a blind eye to the role of some reactionary forces and rulers in the Arab world who did not hesitate to stab the Palestine resistance in the back, either in collusion with imperialism or succumbing to imperialist pressure and intrigue. These forces are apprehensive that the impact of these movements would strengthen the left-democratic movements in the Arab countries that may eventually overthrow the exploitative regimes. We appeal to all those fighters who earnestly desire the victory of the resistance movement to foil their conspiracy and work for uniting and strengthening the left and democratic forces within the movement.

      The indomitable courage, self-sacrifice and perseverance of the people the Middle East countries in their fight against a most ruthless enemy, even in the midst of persecution, massacre and treachery is setting a unique and glowing example before the world. History has thrown up many examples demonstrating that bombs cannot annihilate peoples’ aspiration for freedom, missiles will not force an acceptance of occupation, and shells will not wipe out the desire of the oppressed to resist the oppressors. The imperialists’ attempt to cow down the fighting people of Middle East will also not succeed. In fact all over the globe people’s resistance against imperialist aggression is crystallizing. Within the big imperialist countries millions have come out on the streets protesting against military aggression by the imperialist powers. American hegemonism is challenged by the downtrodden and oppressed people of the world. In Iraq determined resistance of the people has driven USA into a corner. Latin America, which USA once considered as its backyard, has totally rejected USA, and the people are getting steeled in their resolve to fight against American hegemonism. In Africa, Asia, everywhere there is mounting resentment against USA.

      This Conference expresses its solidarity with the struggle of the people in the countries of Middle East, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and from all corners of the globe against imperialist aggression, oppression, and exploitation. Their battles are the battles of all freedom-loving people and are constituents of the global struggle against imperialism. What is needed today is to coordinate all the individual struggles of the different countries and to link them up with the anti-capitalist movements in these countries. If we succeed in building broad anti-imperialist solidarity and international anti-imperialist united front we can deliver a decisive blow to capitalism-imperialism and free the world from this scourge. In this struggle we have to maintain the unity of the people, fight all forms of sectarianism and build up organization strong as steel on the foundation of a correct ideology. This Conference is a bold step in this direction.

This Conference adopts the following political resolutions:

1. The International Anti-imperialist Conference declares, its delegates who are here to voice the inner words of millions of their countries, all stand up on their feet to hail peoples around the world, in particular peoples of Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon for their dour struggle against occupation, onslaught, genocide, carnage, sanction and blockade by the imperialist powers with US imperialism as the bulwark. In Iraq itself, hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians have been slaughtered by US-led occupation armies, nearly a million of adults and children have died of starvation and for want of life-saving drugs, thousands are maimed, disabled or psychologically wrecked. Inhuman tortures are brought to bear upon innocent people imprisoned in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay without trial for years.

This Conference expresses its deep concern over the worsening status of women in particular in Iraq. The democratic rights and the social status that they had under their sovereign government are being badly eroded under the present puppet regime installed by US imperialism. We express our solidarity with the struggling women of Iraq, and also of Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

Against this monstrosity of crimes, the people of Iraq are fighting in resistance, suffering unspeakable miseries, refusing to bow down to the aggressor. Within USA itself, with nearly 3000 young Americans drafted for services for occupation of Iraq having died, resistance to the Bush Administration is growing by the day. This silver lining is one more source of inspiration to people in other countries who all stand in solidarity with the cause of the Iraqi people.

This Conference demands immediate withdrawal of occupation forces from Iraq, release of all people unlawfully detained in prisons wherever. The Iraqi people must be allowed the democratic option of choosing their own government in peace without interference from any powers.

1. The International Anti-imperialist Conference condemns the butchery of Palestine people and forcible occupation by the ruling clique of Israel with overt and covert patronage and aid from the US rulers. Expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle against Israeli occupation, this conference urges the people of the world to unconditionally support the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people for an independent state with capital at Jerusalem, and the right of return of all Palestinian refugees on the basis of peace and justice. Israel must release the Palestinian prisoners and withdraw from the occupied territories.
2. The International Anti-imperialist Conference expresses its deep concern over the US bullying of people of Lebanon and the US-backed Israeli threat to Lebanon’s sovereignty and extends its full support to the Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah and others against US-Zionist interference regarding Lebanese sovereignty, independence and security. This Conference conveys it deep admiration and respect to the courageous and militant Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah and its leader Mr. Hassan Nassrallah, for achieving this tremendous victory facing the US-Israeli brutal and devastating aggression against Lebanon. Such victory is to teach the free people of the world a historic lesson in defending their countries and their rights against imperialist policies and aggressions.
3. The International Anti-imperialist Conference condemns the attacks of the fascist dictatorship of Turkey to oppress and liquidate the revolutionary and nationalist movements in Turkey, as exemplified by the attacks on the Marxist Leninist Communist Party of Turkey and North Kurdistan, the revolutionary forces and the Kurdish national movement. This Conference demands the release of all political prisoners, in particular the 10 September prisoners, and withdrawal of conviction of communists. This Conference condemns the fascist dictatorship’s policy of denial and annihilation of Kurdish nation and its policy of occupation of South Kurdistan.
4. The International Anti-imperialist Conference demands that the USA immediately cease its diplomatic and military moves to attack Iran and impose sanctions. This Conference expresses its solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle to protect their sovereignty from imperialist attack. We condemn India’s siding with USA in voting against Iran in International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
5. The International Anti-imperialist Conference expresses its solidarity with the “Bolivarian Revolution” in Latin America, and the fight of its champion Hugo Chavez against US imperialism. We appreciate the international activities of Hugo Chavez aimed at supporting people’s movements against imperialism. We strongly condemn the imperialist aggression and destabilization campaigns led by the USA against Cuba, Venezuela and other Latin American countries.
6. The All India Anti-imperialist Conference affirms that the record of US imperialist design in the post-Second World War period is a dark chapter in the history of humankind. Intrigues, assassinations, aggressions, blockades, sanctions, invasions together reveal a compelling imperialist drive to maintain and expand the US reserve market in countries of its operation for exploitation of resources, cheap labour and market by its finance capital, undermining and crushing by whatever means all opposition to its machinations.

The true objective of US design becomes apparent when its operations are viewed in the perspective of the unprecedented economic crisis in which world capitalism-imperialism is plunged and its bid for tiding over the crisis through recourse to militarization of economy, and so-called globalization through integration of national markets and managed trade on a globalized scale. This globalization is another imperialist bid to overcome its ever-deepening crisis of the market.

To control resources, to exploit markets, to secure foothold in one country for geopolitical-strategic control of other countries, to subjugate people who refuse to yield under bullying and protracted pressure, to exercise control over other imperialist powers, to test and display prowess of its military machine, the US imperialist clique has been carrying out machinations, aggressions and invasion of countries of its economic-political target — Haiti, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, so forth, all come under this target-chain.

The USA today is the progenitor of wars of aggression in different corners of the world, taking advantage of absence of the erstwhile powerful socialist camp and of worldwide organized militant anti-war peace movements. Brazenly trampling the sovereignty of nations, the US imperialist clique has openly declared its right to intervene in the affairs of any other country.

This Conference notes, people in different countries are coming out in great numbers to resist the evil US design, which design is creating an atmosphere of reaction in which racism, chauvinism and religious fundamentalism are raising their ugly heads.

This Conference calls upon people all over the world to build broad-based united anti-imperialist struggles which alone can resist the aggressive manoeuvres of the arch-imperialist US ruling class and its allies for world domination.

8. This Conference notes with grave concern that the recently concluded India-US Strategic Nuclear Deal, which the Government of either country has been cleverly steering to secure respective necessary endorsements for this settled agreement toward closing up for mutual imperialist interests, portends real threat to urge for peace and genuine development of the people of not India alone, of other peoples as well across South and South-East Asia.

Under the smokescreen of the objective of peaceful utilization of atomic energy, together with the complement of Hyde Act to circumvent the restrictive article 123 of US Atomic Energy Act, India now earns US recognition as a nuclear great power and entitlement to receiving, without the whip to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, uninterrupted supply of nuclear fuels, plants, and technologies for its nuclear power stations which India Government itself will identify as non-strategic, also the right to export indigenously built special types of reactors to other countries. Palpably, India Government’s claim and media euphoria that this Deal allows this country to augment now its nuclear power generation capabilities is only a fig leaf to cover up the design to enhance nuclear military capabilities and economic-political hegemony in this region.

This Deal, the Conference notes, is part of a blueprint for a bigger political-strategic collaboration between India and the US, a plank for the ruling powers to come closer for mutual accommodation and fulfilment of respective imperialist interests, the current benchmark of a long process of growth which, in fact, initiated in the opportunistic exploitation by India of the former Non-Aligned Movement, crossing through the stages of India-US Arms Training Committee, joint naval exercises, India-US Defence Collaboration Treaty, former BJP-led NDA Government’s measures for closer strategic partnership, present CPI(M)-backed Congress-led UPA Government’s agreement for a newly defined outline for defence partnership. The US gains by blocking India’s ties with Iran in its bid to isolate Iran, and securing a strong foothold in India for carrying out its economic-political-military designs in West, South and South-East Asia; India gains by accessing foreign markets for its nuclear military hardware and securing stronger hegemony over this region for its economic forays and expansionist manoeuvre. The role of the CPI(M)-led Left parties to blow hot and cold over the issue nakedly for parliamentary power game, and of the BJP to cry muted for bypassing parliamentary protocols, is both shameful and treacherous as, under this feigned hue and cry over sale-out of sovereignty and keeping people in the dark about the terms of the Deal, these parties betray their collusion with the Congress to cover up the growing imperialistic character and cravings of the Indian State.

This Conference demands that all Indo-US strategic and military agreements including the Indo-US Nuclear Deal be scrapped immediately.

This Conference exhorts the Indian people to stand steadfast in their struggle against not only the US imperialist machinations but simultaneously against the imperialist cravings and designs of the Indian State. 

9. At a time when both the Central Government of India and the different State Governments are inviting the foreign capital to invest in the country and are setting up Special Economic Zones to give them the opportunity for unrestricted exploitation, loot and plunder, throughout India and all over the world the name Nandigram has become synonymous with people’s battle against imperialist economic attack. The heroic struggle of the people in a remote place in West Bengal shook the world, and the example of Nandigram is providing courage and inspiration to the struggling people everywhere for resisting the capitalist-imperialist offensive. The CPI(M), the leading party in the so-called Left Front ruling the State of West Bengal has been following a policy of offering special concessions to the multinationals and Indian monopolists and is acquiring the land for them by forcibly ousting the peasants. At Singur the peasants built up a determined resistance against such land acquisition for the benefit of the Indian monopoly house of the Tatas. While the agitation was going on at Singur, the Government unilaterally issued a notice for acquiring a huge amount of land in Nandigram for the infamous Salem Group of Indonesia to set up a chemical hub under the SEZ scheme. But the peasants were determined to resist this move, and to conduct the struggle they built up their own people’s committee – Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) (Committee to Resist Eviction from Land). The Government and the party leaders and cadres coaxed, cajoled and threatened the peasants but could not cow them down. Failing in their attempt, on 14th March the police and the criminal cadres of the CPI(M) disguised in police uniforms launched a barbaric attack on unarmed villagers killing scores of people, injuring hundreds and raping women, even young girls. But this did not destroy the morale of the villagers or their resolve to fight and for eight months they continued their struggle with democratic demands, fought with exemplary courage, and were successful in resisting the entry of the criminal gangs and their police protectors. Forced by their heroic struggle the Government had to withdraw their decision to set up SEZ at Nandigram. But, the CPI(M) started to assemble criminals from all over the state and even from other states for storming Nandigram. Then starting from 5th November to 10th a large contingent of armed party cadres and hired criminals encircled the villages and indiscriminately started shooting at the villagers, killing them, ransacking their homes, raping the women and the driving the residents of almost whole villages from their homes. The police stood as ineffective bystanders during the carnage on instructions from the higher-ups, and the CPI(M) goons sealed off the entire area so that nobody from outside, not even the media, could enter. Never before in the history of this country has such barbaric action been perpetrated on the people by the rulers through their cadres and hired criminals. While all over the country citizens from all sections of society have roundly condemned this inhuman act, the CPI(M) leaders are eulogizing this action as heralding a new dawn in Nandigram. The criminals are still occupying the villages, preventing the return of their opponents and are terrorizing the people. Though tens of thousands of people are still in relief camps without proper shelter, food and medical help, their fighting spirit remains undiminished. The heroic battle of the people of Nandigram is a beacon to all who are fighting to resist imperialist penetration done with the collaboration of the ruling class.

We salute the peasants of Nandigram for setting an example of uncompromising fight against state- and party-sponsored attack and express full solidarity with their struggle. Condemning the barbaric act of the CPI(M) and its Government, this Anti-imperialist Conference demands that, (i) the CPI(M) marauders must leave the villages (ii) the leaders, cadres, criminals and the police personnel responsible for the killing, raping, torturing must be arrested and given exemplary punishment, (iii) food, clothes, shelter, medical assistance must be provided by the Government for the relief camps, (iv) adequate compensation must be given to all the victims, (v) schemes like SEZ which give special concessions to the multinationals and Indian monopoly houses to loot the country’s resources, and exploit the people must be scrapped.

1. The Conference resolves to set up an International Anti-imperialist and People’s Solidarity Coordinating Committee (IAPSCC) to coordinate the anti-imperialist struggles in different countries. The Composition of the IAPSCC will be as follows:

President : Ramsey Clark

General Secretary : Manik Mukherjee

Secretariat : Representatives from USA, Canada, France, Germany, Bangladesh, Lebanon (2), Palestine, India, Nepal (2)

To be approached : Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran, Iraq and others

With powers of cooption

Support Committee : Russia, Turkey, Bahrain, Bangladesh and others

With powers of cooption

The names of the representatives would be finalized after consultation with the organizers in different countries.